So for the anyone in the void who reads these,I decided at the beginning of June that I was almost to 20 books,and it was only June,so I decided to take up to take up the full 50 book challenge that my wife is doing. Even though I was almost at 20, I had some catching up to do,so I had to read 8 books in June to be at 25 by the hallway point of the year(July 1st) so I decided to not pelt wWordPress with 8 book reviews in a month so I decided to post them all in digest style after the fact.
So here is your feature presentation:
Song of Solomon: Long winding story with some not very smooth transitions that confused me a little bit but the last third weaved a good web of missing information into the story about where the main character came from that made the book worth it. 5/10
The Colorodo Kid: Classic Stephen King: new England setting,slight mystery. In this case,a very quaint little book as opposed to some of his long epic stories,but still good. I especially liked the chemistry between the three main characters,and they way they are often on the same wavelength,which begins to show Stephanie she fits in very well with them. Some might say an unfinished ending,but I think as Stephen King explains in his afterward,that it’s very true to life.
6/10
Looking for Alaska: despite the sadness displayed in the second half of this book it is a great look into the process of grief and also forgiveness and I think those are both important when dealing with loss.
8/10
The Terminal Man:
Very classic sci-fi concept. Not sure if he ever really became more machine than man,but that certainly didn’t make it any less interesting. Great climax,although fairly abrupt ending,im surprised it wasn’t at least followed by an epilogue or afterwards.
7/10
The Ocean at the End of the Lane:
I never had read Neil Gaiman’s books but this felt just in the same heroics and imaginative worlds as in Doctor Who,which he has written for a few times. At times in speeches I actually imagined Lettie as The Doctor,a merciful yet powerful character. Very interesting book with sort of open ended questions at the end that leave things up to interpretation in some of the best ways.
7/10
Will Grayson Will Grayson:
A story about two angsty teens which in some ways reminds me of me(each will Grayson)when I was their age. The story was very well weaved between the two will Graysons,every other chapter written by the second author and John Green and David Levithan. That being said,i liked the story as a whole,not too much,but I really enjoyed yeah very end of it.
Reread value:8/10
Catch-22:
Quite a long winding story. It honestly took me years to read,i mean I started it when my reading speed was slow,and when I wasn’t as interested in some stories,now that I am it was much easier to read. That being said I did still start it from where I left off because I did technically read all that came before and remembered most of it. Very good ending,more resolved than I has expected from this book that tetered on comedy,stress and dove into more serious dark drama near the end which I was surprisingly happy about because it’s humor was honestly frustrating to me by the middle. Which makes sense, since Catch-22 is a really frustrating concept especially when played out through many aspects of the story. Hopefully I’ll read the whole thing in one period of time later in life. Reread value:7/10
Closing Time:
First let me just say this:this book has the most part separations to it(7 so far at my time of writing this) for no discernable reason,like there is no real thematic difference or plot events that separate one from the others. It’s truly odd,maybe if they were titled for certain events or themes it would make more sense,but they aren’t and I can’t see a theme with each,thus it makes now sense. What I’ll give this book,is that like the first one,sometimes the humor just quickly becomes laugh out loud funny. For example,in reaction to one ridiculous line the character Milo says,(nearly everything he says is rediculous,a lie,or both) the next line is “Fat fell down and broke his face” which is a great example of both a hilarious one liner,and often my reaction to said hilarious one liners. It also took quite a while to get some of the ancillary characters together with Yossarian near the end,I would have expected that to happen closer to the middle. The end,also gets a little bit odd even for Joseph Heller standards when it descends Into a theme park version of the afterlife lead by Coney Island mogul George Tilyou,and another character who is possibly god in that universe. Very odd,I usually like that sort of thing,but it seems out of place given how it didn’t start that odd. Yet it’s Joseph Heller and he is odd and I’ll he damned if two books in a row he gives me a semi-enjoyable experience for most of the book,and then wins me over with the ending. I’m not sure if I’ll ever read another one of his books in my life,but I can say one thing for sure,ill probably love the ending if nothing else. Reread value:6/10
So I’ll just keep doing these digest style posts for the rest of the months, probably,this year. Also it should only be 4 books a month now,which is much easier.
-Peter Aka Blaze
Roll It Again! 